Palestinians Seize the World Stage
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has demanded membership in the United Nations. We hear Israel's reaction and what it means for US diplomacy at the UN and in the Middle East. Also, the US faces another government shutdown, and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff blames Pakistan for attacks on American targets in Afghanistan.
Banner image: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas holds up papers for statehood while addressing the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, 2011 in New York City. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Main Topic
Palestinians Seize the World Stage ()
To a standing ovation from the General Assembly, PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas applied for full Palestinian membership in the United Nations today. On the streets of Ramallah, rapturous crowds waved flags and cheered a speech that attacked Israel as an occupying power defiant of UN resolutions. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in turn, attacked "militant Islam" and said peace will not be achieved by UN resolutions but only by negotiations between the parties. Will today's actions renew the peace process? What are the implications for American diplomacy in the Middle East?
Guests:
- Carne Ross: Independent Diplomat
- Daoud Kuttab: Palestinian journalist, @daoudkuttab
- David Makovsky: Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- David Rothkopf: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Links:
- Makovsky's 'Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East'
- Rothkopf's 'Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making'
- TtP on Obama's address to the UN as Palestinians seek UN membership
- Sarkozy on 'Observer' status for Palestine as intermediate step to UN membership
Reporter's Notebook
Is Pakistan's Government Sponsoring Terrorism? ()
Admiral Mike Mullen has become the highest American official to accuse Pakistan's intelligence service of responsibility for attacks on US targets in Afghanistan. Yesterday, addressing the Senate Armed Services Committee, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called the Haqqani network a "veritable arm" of the Inter-Service Intelligence that with ISI support, "planned and conducted that truck bomb attack as well as the assault on our embassy." Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid is the author of Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
Guests:
- Ahmed Rashid: Pakistani journalist
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